interrobang's recent activity

  1. Comment on Steam Next Fest June 2025 in ~games

    interrobang
    Link Parent
    I played this at PAX a couple years ago and it didn't grab me, but I'm sure it's come a long ways since then!

    I played this at PAX a couple years ago and it didn't grab me, but I'm sure it's come a long ways since then!

  2. Comment on MiniPC home server recommendations in ~tech

    interrobang
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    If you are just dipping your toes, I might suggest starting with a NAS rather than a NUC plus attached storage. I have a Synology DS220+ and after a $10 RAM upgrade, it does a lovely job running a...

    If you are just dipping your toes, I might suggest starting with a NAS rather than a NUC plus attached storage. I have a Synology DS220+ and after a $10 RAM upgrade, it does a lovely job running a full *arr stack plus some other goodies.

    But since it has the storage as well, I don't have to worry about mounting volumes, etc.-- it's all on the same low-power device.

    The DS220+ has a Celeron J4025, which supports QuickSync and thus Jellyfin transcoding. Jellyfin can easily stream to three devices in my house at once with transcoding, no sweat.

    Cons:

    • it sounds like Synology will be locking down the ecosystem more in future models. But the stuff on the market now is fine.
    • Synology doesn't run super up-to-date kernels, etc., so it's not the latest and greatest. But everything is in Docker anyways so it hasn't really mattered for me.
    CONTAINER ID   NAME          CPU %     MEM USAGE / LIMIT     MEM %     NET I/O           BLOCK I/O   PIDS
ce8d3b7b000b   radarr        0.14%     134.1MiB / 5.641GiB   2.32%     156MB / 52.3MB    0B / 0B     0
aa2ad8be9bdf   qbittorrent   12.30%    1.352GiB / 5.641GiB   23.97%    22GB / 6.38GB     0B / 0B     0
d22d82d02444   prowlarr      0.06%     97.33MiB / 5.641GiB   1.69%     143MB / 593MB     0B / 0B     0
b1f8be520b95   sonarr        0.13%     194MiB / 5.641GiB     3.36%     548MB / 578MB     0B / 0B     0
563ce53ee4d7   readarr       0.05%     76.8MiB / 5.641GiB    1.33%     72.2MB / 6.16MB   0B / 0B     0
5d24882e0f20   bazarr        0.16%     200MiB / 5.641GiB     3.46%     1.45GB / 117MB    0B / 0B     0
98967098f133   jellyfin      0.04%     502.1MiB / 5.641GiB   8.69%     352MB / 53GB      0B / 0B     0
87749ffeafbc   jellyseerr    0.01%     174.1MiB / 5.641GiB   3.01%     2.07GB / 332MB    0B / 0B     0
4379102cd918   caddy         0.17%     41.93MiB / 5.641GiB   0.73%     0B / 0B           0B / 0B     0
76182518ced2   unpackerr     0.00%     5.574MiB / 5.641GiB   0.10%     0B / 0B           0B / 0B     0

    My docker configs in case it's helpful in the future: https://github.com/sethkinast/synology-config/

    2 votes

  3. Comment on MiniPC home server recommendations in ~tech

    interrobang
    Link Parent
    None of the chips that are in NUCs have the frying issue. Most important is to check that it's one with QuickSync support for transcoding. n100 or n150 or similar.

    None of the chips that are in NUCs have the frying issue. Most important is to check that it's one with QuickSync support for transcoding. n100 or n150 or similar.

    5 votes

  4. Comment on Best daily sunscreens? in ~health

    interrobang
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    We use this Banana Boat because I also hate feeling greasy. It was recommended by a dermatologist, and now we use it on the whole family-- even the kids don't mind it.

    We use this Banana Boat because I also hate feeling greasy. It was recommended by a dermatologist, and now we use it on the whole family-- even the kids don't mind it.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on What mattress would you recommend? in ~life.home_improvement

    interrobang
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    We have had the same Aireloom for the past 9 years and it's the best thing I've ever slept on. I never found a foam mattress that had enough edge support for me.

    We have had the same Aireloom for the past 9 years and it's the best thing I've ever slept on. I never found a foam mattress that had enough edge support for me.

  6. Comment on Who sells the Darn Tough equivalent of underwear? in ~life.men

    interrobang
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    My older ExOfficio pairs were good but the newer ones wore much more quickly. Unfortunately seems like another victim of the quality treadmill. My new go-to has been Saxx. 3-4 years of wear and no...

    My older ExOfficio pairs were good but the newer ones wore much more quickly. Unfortunately seems like another victim of the quality treadmill.

    My new go-to has been Saxx. 3-4 years of wear and no pairs have worn out yet.

    5 votes

  7. Comment on Male birth control gel (that is applied to the shoulders) is safe and effective, new trial findings show in ~science

    interrobang
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Came in a big pump bottle like hand sanitizer. Apply after showering on shoulders and upper arms, basically where a T-shirt covers. No contact with wife/kids until it dries, so I would do it right...

    Came in a big pump bottle like hand sanitizer. Apply after showering on shoulders and upper arms, basically where a T-shirt covers. No contact with wife/kids until it dries, so I would do it right before leaving for work.

    You weren't allowed to use other birth control so they only recruited couples who were ok with having a kid! That was part of the reason it took the study a long time to find enough people.

    I had no side effects other than increased energy. When I get blood work done as part of my physicals I have lower than average testosterone, and the gel kills your natural production and then includes a supplement, so my testosterone level increased slightly while using it.

    The only difficult part was that you cannot miss days and it has to absorb for a couple hours. We took a beach trip while I was using it and I had to wake up at 6 to apply it so it would dry in time before we went to the beach.

    If it were available today I would use it again.

    20 votes

  8. Comment on Male birth control gel (that is applied to the shoulders) is safe and effective, new trial findings show in ~science

    interrobang
    Link
    I participated in this study, AMA. Took it for 18 months with no side effects and no children, then successfully had children afterwards.

    I participated in this study, AMA. Took it for 18 months with no side effects and no children, then successfully had children afterwards.

    31 votes

  9. Comment on Wordpress hosting in ~tech

    interrobang
    Link
    On the spectrum from bare-metal VPS to fully-managed WordPress, I really like Opalstack (the same people behind what used to be Webfaction). They give you a VPS plus a bunch of one-click...

    On the spectrum from bare-metal VPS to fully-managed WordPress, I really like Opalstack (the same people behind what used to be Webfaction). They give you a VPS plus a bunch of one-click installers so you can tinker, add a storefront, etc., but still have auto-updated WordPress that you don't have to set up on your own.

    Agree with the other commenter that Shopify may honestly be a better choice if the focus is ecomm and not actually blogging. It's so turnkey.

  10. Comment on How to use the YouTube website? in ~tech

    interrobang
    Link
    I use libredirect to automatically send YouTube links to an Invidious instance instead. https://libredirect.github.io/

    I use libredirect to automatically send YouTube links to an Invidious instance instead.

    https://libredirect.github.io/

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Is it possible to learn a MOBA without necessarily treating like learning chess, or a second job? in ~games

    interrobang
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    If you have a friend that can play some with you, you will skip some hours of misery for sure. I don't think it takes that many games or hours to have a good time, though. I suggest DOTA, since...

    If you have a friend that can play some with you, you will skip some hours of misery for sure. I don't think it takes that many games or hours to have a good time, though.

    I suggest DOTA, since every character is available from the start without any purchasing or grinding.

    If you spend some time (even in bot games) practicing the fundamentals-- last hitting, farming-- you will immediately be better than a large section of the trench that treats the game as a deathmatch.

    Play twenty bot games, find hopefully 3-4 characters that you click with in a couple different roles (tip: DOTA allows you to filter by hero complexity and hero role), and once you feel like you have a general hang of it jump into some unranked games. Play top or bottom lane (where you'll generally have a teammate with you) and just start by focusing on the fundamentals: get last hits (gold), don't die (play with your team, don't tunnel-vision on last hitting).

    DOTA has in-game guides that will help you select items and skills for your hero (or pay $4/month for DOTA+, which uses machine learning to dynamically suggest what to do next based on what's happening in the game).

    Half of the fun is just trying heroes out, but some good potential starters might be:

    Carries (do more damage as they get more items)
    Juggernaut: simple mechanics, has a heal
    Viper: durable, ranged
    Wraith King: gets two lives, has a heal
    Sniper: not as easy as it looks because the hero is slow and fragile, but hide behind your team and kill everyone

    Supports (have impactful skills but generally deal less damage)
    Witch Doctor: ton of fun to play, big nukes
    Shadow Shaman: easy to understand, pushes towers
    Ogre Magi: durable, lots of fun buttons to push

    And finally, as long as you go into games with the mindset that you want to personally improve / learn something from the game, and don't get frustrated when you get stomped for awhile, you'll be fine. Even when I can tell games are going poorly, I just concentrate on doing as best I can so I can improve for the next one.

    It will take a considerable number of games (I only play a few games a week; you don't have to nolife it) before you feel comfortable enough with the basics to start thinking about the macro game-- is it safe where you are? Should your team take this fight or try to avoid it and farm? How far can you push before you need to get back?-- but if it clicks for you then this will come with time.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on What service are you using for domain names? in ~comp

    interrobang
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    Porkbun is what I recommend to anyone who isn't super technical; friendly UI, friendly support, good prices. I personally use CloudFlare because it's a bit cheaper and I already manage all my...

    Porkbun is what I recommend to anyone who isn't super technical; friendly UI, friendly support, good prices.

    I personally use CloudFlare because it's a bit cheaper and I already manage all my nameservers with them as well as making use of CloudFlare Workers.

    I have a .st domain through Gandi because there are very few registrars for that extension, but I'm looking to move it now that Gandi was bought and seems to be declining rapidly. Looking at trying out Netim for that one.

  13. Comment on Where is everyone hosting their email these days? in ~tech

  14. Comment on What are some of your favorite names for the users of Tildes? in ~talk

    interrobang
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    I kind of like Tildees.

    I kind of like Tildees.

    6 votes

  15. Comment on What game is your current addiction? in ~games

    interrobang
    Link Parent
    I just cannot grok Monster Hunter. I've played 3, 4U, and World, and they all just feel like impenetrable walls. I've made it the furthest into 4U, where I've gotten far enough to get a bujabujabu...

    I just cannot grok Monster Hunter. I've played 3, 4U, and World, and they all just feel like impenetrable walls.

    I've made it the furthest into 4U, where I've gotten far enough to get a bujabujabu set, but phew.

    Despite watching tutorials, reading wikis... is there something I'm missing?

  16. Comment on Thunderbird 115 “Supernova” is here in ~tech

    interrobang
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    I upgraded despite being apprehensive based on their preview. First impression was that it looks... bad. The spacing wasn't coherent; some screens haven't been updated to their new design...

    I upgraded despite being apprehensive based on their preview.

    First impression was that it looks... bad. The spacing wasn't coherent; some screens haven't been updated to their new design language; the menu bar looks just out-of-place. It kind of reminds me how Windows 11 has Control Panel screens from Windows 10, Windows XP, and even Windows 2000 hiding in the depths.

    As I tinkered with it a little, I realized that they carried across all my existing settings in-place, and that some of the defaults were not super sensible. It defaulted to condensed spacing, but with a font slightly too large for that spacing. Fixing those made the design look more "correct", but the app does seem to follow the trend of putting superfluous whitespace where none is really needed.

    So it seems that although they provide the tools for "compact view" and font size preferences, unless you use something pretty close to their hero shots, the application won't really look quite correct. For example, they really want you to use their new hamburger menu, so the traditional menu bar is clearly an afterthought now. This can be fixed with another polish pass I'm sure.

    The actual feature changes are pretty light. Overall I'd say that the update is a bit overblown, but hopefully they did some architecture cleanup and that'll help development speed going forward.

    The new Unified Folder stuff is cool, but they should have taken more hints from K-9's implementation, where you can select which folders are bubbled up to the Unified Inbox. It's too overwhelming as-is even though I'd like to use it.

    7 votes

  17. Comment on What mattress brand do you recommend? in ~life.home_improvement

    interrobang
    Link
    You didn't mention your location and they're pretty limited in availability, but I've had an Aireloom for the last seven years or so and it's been the most amazing thing I've ever slept on. They...

    You didn't mention your location and they're pretty limited in availability, but I've had an Aireloom for the last seven years or so and it's been the most amazing thing I've ever slept on. They are not cheap and they are not portable, but I spend 25% of my life on a mattress :P

    As far as brands I don't like, a lot of the bed in a box mattresses have really bad edge support and always make me feel like I'm rolling off.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on Elly de la Cruz steals 2nd, 3rd, then home! in ~sports.baseball

  20. Comment on MXRoute has $10/yr 10GB email hosting packages for 4th of July in ~comp